I’ve always been labeled as the nice girl my whole life. I’ve always been so proud of that.
Now that I’m older, I still am nice, but I’m too nice. People take advantage of me. How do I be firm and set people in their place without coming off as a jerk? Especially when one of those people is my dad…

Mini rant… today I was planning to study all day for my finals in 2 weeks. I got a text from my dads girlfriend and she asked if I could babysit for her later this evening. I don’t want to but I said yes anyway because I know how busy she is. Then she texts me and says “great, I’ll drop Sammy off in a half hour.” Um what???? She said later this evening, not a half hour!

So I was pissed and out of anger I said to my dad “that was rude of her to ask me last minute! I would like a heads up!” Now, my dad puts his girlfriend on a pedestal, and the fact that I said something bad about her pissed him off. He very sternly then said “you can’t help someone else for once?! It’s that big of a deal that you cant help?! You are so selfish!”

I never talk back to my dad but today I was furious so I said “you act like I’ve never helped your girlfriend before! I helped her move into her new house, I helped her disabled uncle move from across the state at 10:30pm before, I’ve babysitted thousands upon thousands of times, including everyday before class last semester! I’ve drove and picked her up from the airport which is an hour away. AND I said yes to babysitting today. Who does she go to when she needs help? ME!! So don’t tell me I NEVER help out!” This shut my dad up and he hasn’t talked to me since.

That scenario just gives you a little idea of what is going on. Please help. I’m tired of this, I don’t want to be mean but being nice is no longer working….